Images by gorilla_astro

M27 Dumbbell nebula (reprocess)
This is a reprocess of data from the last m27 i did. It sure has been cloudy. This is 4.5 hours worth of data at bortle 7 (severe) light pollution and I hope to come back to this with more integration time.
This nebula is what our sun will eventually do! Kaboom! I wonder if we'll be around by then. That of course would be a future dependent on technological advancements to put us on a new planet just close enough to view the light show. I hope thats a future for our kind.
12x600s oiii
15x600s halpha
30 flats per filter
64 darks
200 bias
Total integration= 4.5 hours
Gain 200, offset 50. Bortle 6
Equipment and software: gso rc6, astrophysics ccdt67, stellardrive heq5 mount, self modified zwo off axis guider with asi290 mini, imaged with an asi1600mm using astrodon filters 3nm oiii and 5nm halpha. Qhy polemaster. Software on the field: sgp, eqmod, stellarium, phd2, plate solve 2. Calibrated, aligned, integrated, drizzled and finalized in pixinsight.
#dumbbell#nebula#amateurastrophotographyezine#astrophotography#starstuff#savethestars#cosmos#universe#astrodon#optcorp#opteam#narrowband#wonderfulspace#spaceisawesome#natgeospace#space#starpics#stargazing#astronomy

The crab nebula M1. (crop edit)
A supernova remnant in the constellation Taurus about 6500 light years away. The crab nebula is the first on the messier objects list. It got its name from William Parsons in 1840, using a 36" telescope he sketched what he saw as a crab. This object is also the first deep sky object to be identified as a historical supernova explosion. This can not be seen by the naked eye but under favorable conditions can be seen with binoculars.
This is also on a list of my favorite deep sky objects. One thing this nebula shows to me is how far weve come as a society. There was a time we believed the universe was only 6000 years old, but if that were the case then how could we see the crab nebula as its 6500 ly away? And of course the many objects further away in our own Galaxy and beyond to other galaxies.
This here is slightly over 11 hours worth of full narrowband data captured in my backyard at bortle 7 (severe) light pollution
Equipment: 🔭Gso rc6, 📷Zwo asi1600mm-c, self modified zwo off axis guider using asi290mm mini for guiding, Stellardive heq5 mount, astrophysics cctd67 reducer, astrodon halpha, sii and Oiii in an 8 position electronic filter wheel. Qhy polemaster
Sensor cooled to -20c
Software:
Sgpro, phd2, plate solve 2, stellarium, eqmod, and pixinsight.
Thanks for looking and always keep your head up to the stars!
#astrophotography#crabpeople#nebula#astrodon#optcorp#opteam#natgeospace#universetoday#stars#milkywaychasers#amateurastrophotographyezine#crab#deepsky#longexposure#nightphotography#backyardastronomy#followyourstars#space#2018#cosmos @amateurastrophotographyezine

Recipe! Cajun deep fried turkey!
Warning this can be very dangerous and I am not liable for anything bad that happens.
Assuming you have the right size frying pot. You will need
12-17lb turkey
3 gallons of peanut oil
Cajun/creole style seasoning/rub
Cajun/creole style butter with the marinade injector
Long flame resistant glove
Propane tank
Long thermometer for the oil
Meat thermometer
First things first, one key safety measure is to make sure you plan a week in advance to thaw your turkey in the fridge ONLY! this eliminates risk of bacteria if you were sink thawing as it takes a very long time. Make sure it is fully thawed or you will have an ice bomb and will have a bad time. Safety! Once thawed take the whole turkey, place in the empty cooking pot and fill it up with water until the bird is submerged. Pull the turkey out and Mark in the pot where the water lowered to, that's how much oil you'll need to cook with to help prevent overflow. A giant grease fire is a nightmare and has cost some their homes and worse. Be sure to fully dry the turkey too because excess water can cause problems.
Take the marinade butter and syringe and begin injecting into thick parts of the turkey and meaty parts of wings. Don't forget the thighs. Inject anywhere between 4 and 6oz. When injecting slowly press the marinade out as you're slowly pulling the syringe out for even distribution. Take the seasoning and dump a good bit into the big hole by the drum sticks. Then rub it evenly around the bird. Season to taste.
Saftey! Time to set up the fryer. Make sure where you set up that it is not covered and by anything that can catch fire. Concrete and a moist yard or soil patch works great.
Place the oil pot on the fryer and use a long lighter or match to light the fryer. Do not put your face close to it.
Heat oil to 350°f and then shut the fryer off for the next step with safety. Put on the flame resistant glove and SLOWLY! lower the turkey into the oil. Turn fryer back on and keep oil temp between 300-325°f and cook for 3.5min per pound or until internal temp reaches 160°f. Let cool for 15min then carve and serve.

Recipe! Slow smoked ribeye roast
1 ribeye roast at least 5lbs or more
6 cloves of garlic minced
4 tbsp of mustard
2 tbsp of worschestor sauce
Half cup of seasoning salt
2 tbsp of rosemary
1 tbsp of thyme
Ground peppercorn to taste
1tbsp of rosemary
(Optional) oregano to taste
Mesquite logs (chunks will do)
Smoker or grill large enough to have one side dedicated to logs and the other meat
Charcoal
Oven (optional)
Meat thermometer
Cut a few slits about half an inch on the roast and stuff it with pinch of minced garlic. Take the minced garlic, mustard and w sauce and mix into bowl. Evenly coat the roast in a thin layer. Rest of the seasonings into a bowl and make a slight rub out of it and cover the roast until evenly coated. Wrap up and seal it to marinade in the refrigerator for at the very least 24 hours (72hours is a favorite of mine). Take smoker and fill firebox with charcoal and lighter fluid, light coals up and wait until they are half white and the flame is small. Add 2 logs of mesquite and place roast in smoke chamber. Keep temperature between 225f and 250f. Add a log after 2.5 hours Smoke for 6 hours or mainly cook until internal temp reaches 145f. If it's taking a while then finish off in the oven at 325f until temp is at least 145f.
For the best results. Once temp is achieved take the roast, wrap in foil and place in an ice cooler (no ice), close the lid and let it sit for 1 hour and then remove from cooler and let sit for 10min. Then cut up and serve! Best served with au jus sauce and horseradish!
Good drink combos in my opinion: 12+ year highland region scotch, Cabernet Sauvignon, dark soda, water with a lime.
Any questions I'll try and respond! Thank you for looking!
#cooking#ribeye#bbq#xmas#beef#texasbeef#lownslow#meatmas#smokedmeat#meateater#meat#ilovetocook#mesquite#texasbbq#recipe#recipes

Elephants trunk winterized! Happy Winter solstice! "Darkness and frost"
@wintersunofficial @jariwintersun @teemumantysaari
As I was processing the bicolor rendition I also wanted to experiment with the Sii, oiii, and halpha channels and go for something different than the traditional hubble pallette. I wanted to capture winter in this. Frozen space!
When you see something captured/presented in full narrowband the colors are actually false. The structures are real it's just that when shot in natural color, the images of these wonders are dominated in color by more of the stronger element. In this case a natural elphants trunk would be red dominated due to hydrogen alpha being strongest of the elements present.
Narrowband takes a more scientific approach as you can take the separate elements and aspects of the structures and bring them out without it being dominated by one channel giving you a perspective of it's elemental composition and/or bringing art and feel to the image.
In this version I wanted to bring attention to the dark nebula in this and give a frozen winter feel to it. "Darkness and frost🎶" I hope you enjoy and thank you for looking!
#OPTeam#amateurastrophotographyezine#narrowbandimaging#wintersolstice#winter#frost#space#nebula#wintersun#natgeospace#universetoday#astrophotography#winteriscoming#gameofthrones#sonsofwinterandstars

Elephants trunk in bicolor (IC 1396/vdb 142)
This is an emission nebula about 2400 light years away. Located in the constellation cepheus, it is comprised of dense interstellar gas and dust with a large structure of ionized dust and a diffuse nebula. The elephants trunk nebula is thought to be a massive star forming region with young stars less than 100k years old! The pressure from the light, gas, dust and star formation is theorized to host a current generation of protostars.
Thought i would work a new rendition of the elephants trunk here as i am learning and experimenting with narrowband color palettes. Its one of my favorite star forming regions on my list and i just felt like after looking at the first rendition that it deserved some attention. I decided to see what i could cook up with a bicolor style using the hydrogen alpha and Oxygen III present in the nebula.
Equipment and software:
Gso rc6, stellardrive heq5, self modified zwo off axis guider, zwo asi1600mm with 8 position electronic filter wheel using astrodon filters 3nm oiii, and 5nm halpha. Qhy polemaster
Field sofware: sgpro, eqmod, stellarium, phd2 and plate solve 2
Calibrated, aligned, stacked and processed in pixinsight.
Data:
Halpha 49x600s. Oiii 35x600s
Total= 14 hours captured in my backyard bortle 7 (severe) light pollution
#space#astrophotography#Optcorp#astrodon#backyardastrophotography#amateurphotography#narrowband#spaceischill#cosmos#night#longexposure#stars#whoadude#starstuff#nebula#universetoday#deepspace#explorespace#amateurastrophotographyezine#OPTeam

Throwback Thursday! My first astrophoto that got me started down this path.
I know I have said that the Pleiades was my first, but only in a sense that it's my first deep sky object photographed. I took this back in August of 2016 using a skywatcher 8inch dobsonian, a Celestron xcel 18mm eyepiece and the camera was actually a phone camera. It was an HTC one mini and this was just a single exposure. I rotated the pic for aesthetics.
Unfortunately I sold my dobsonian for more astro gear and I honestly miss that telescope as I love to do both visual and photographic. Perhaps in the future I'll get a new dobsonian.
If you're ever wanting to know what your first telescope should be for astronomy I will give you this bit of advice "a dobsonian will be your best friend!". And if you ever want to take good pictures you would be surprised what a cell phone, a dobsonian, dark skies and some patience can capture. And who knows.... This may start you down the path as it did for me.
I am not going to lie as current me today has a love/hate relationship with the moon. I can admire it at times but sometimes get bummed when the only clear night of the month is a full moon that washes away my precious deep sky objects. All in all it's a marvel in the sky that everyone can enjoy and photograph and that's what makes it special and loved by many.
Anyways hope everyone is having a great Thursday!
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie!!!
#moon#astrophotography#natgeospace#universetoday#yourESA#nasa#astronomy#dobsonian#throwbackthursday#moon 🌙 #moonlovers#followyourstars#skywatcher#cellphoneastrophotography#ig_astrophotography#amateurphotography

Smoked turkey breast Thanksgiving 2018
Cooking is another favorite to do in my life. I'm a huge foodie and got the dad pudge of a stomach to match it. Normally I'll deep fry a whole turkey on Thanksgiving but I wanted to do something different. Took the turkey breast and injected with creole style butter, made a rub out of poultry seasoning and Lawry's seasoning salt then lightly covered the turkey and let that all marinade for 2 days. Then got the smoker going at 225 degrees Fahrenheit with some mesquite logs to smoke the turkey for 7 hours low and slow. One of my favorite tools to use is a remote meat thermometer that way I never have to open the smoke chamber and disturb the meat in it's epic transformation.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!
#thanksgiving#turkey#gobblegobble#meat#smokedmeat#bbq#lownslow#cooking#grilling#familytime#holidays
This is for you my Turkish foodie friend @aydinmustafa

M33 The Triangulum Galaxy
Swipe to see annotated version and swipe again to see halpha star forming regions and nebulae!
Full resolution in link on my page. One of the closest galaxies to us at about 3 million light years away located in the constellation Triangulum. M33 is quite the spiral galaxy as it has a good amount of bright nebulas in it as you can see the red "jewels" i managed to bring forth in this rendition. This galaxy is home to about 40 billion stars. Some sources state that it was "possibly" first dicovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654 and independently discovered by Charles Messier August 25/26th 1764. In September of 1784 William Herschel separately catalogued the brightest hydrogen alpha region as H III.150 which later on became known as NGC 604. Much like our other neighbor the Andromeda galaxy, M33 is also heading towards us on a collision course moving at a speed of 62K mph (100k kph). Nasa has added that if the halpha region NGC 604 was located at the same distance as the Orion Nebula (1344 ly away) that it would be the brightest part of our sky apart from the Moon. Scientists have estimated that NGC 604 is 100x larger than the Orion Nebula.
This wonderful galaxy under dark skies can be seen with the naked eye, binoculars, small telesopes and more. In larger telescopes you can see NGC 604.
Data: 54x600s halpha, 48x360s Luminance, 57x360s Red, 30x360s Green, 33x360s Blue. Total integration= 25hrs 48min
Equipment: 🔭Gso rc6, 📷Zwo asi1600mm-c, self modified zwo off axis guider using asi290mm mini for guiding, Stellardive heq5 mount, astrophysics cctd67 reducer, astrodon halpha, and zwo LRGB filters in an 8x electronic filter wheel. Qhy polemaster
Software:
Sgpro, phd2, plate solve 2, stellarium, eqmod, and pixinsight.
For now and always thanks for looking and always keep your head up to the stars! 🎶🎸🎶 #astrophotography#deepspace#nightsky#natgeospace#photography#space#longexposure#stars#texas#universe#night#night_photography#astronomy#universetoday#yourESA#ESA#ig_astrophotography#science#texasphotographer#amateurphotography#nasa#narrowband#astrodon#amateurastrophotographyezine